Condiment shaker



May 14, 1940. w. MCARTHUR coNnIMENT SHAKER Filed May 2, 1938 FIG FIG. 4

INVENTOR Patented May 14, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CONDIMENTSHAKER William McArthur, East Orange, N. J.

Application May 2, 1938, Serial No.` 205,469

1 Claim.

`be simple in construction and efficient in operation.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a shaker for aplurality of separated condiments or other materials which permits thematerials to be replenished without danger of mixing one with another.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved closure cap.

. A further object of theinvention is to provide an Aimprovedrelationship of compartments for containing the diierent materials to bedispensed and the relation of such compartments to the cle sure cap. i

A further and ancillary object of the invention is to provide acontainer for one material and a receptacle for another material, thereceptacle depending from the closure cap.

A further object of the invention is to provide a container having aclosure cap with a receptacle depending from the closure cap and meansassociated with the closure cap for controlling the dispensing of thematerial from the receptacle and the container.

Where a movable member is movably mounted and where such member isarranged inside thel closure, there is danger of the controlling memberbeing gripped between the top of the closure and the edge of thecontainer so as to prevent ready movement of the controlling member ifthe closure is screwed Vtoo tight upon the container. It is a furtherobject of `the invention to avoid this disadvantage by placing themovable dispensing control member between the inner and outer members ofthe closure which are spaced apart and secured together so that readymovement of the controlling member is permitted at all times regardlessof how tightly the closure is screwed upon the container.

01. fis-45) In the accompanying drawingwhich illustrates the invention:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of a device embodying the invention adaptedfor use as a salt and pepper shaker with the control in position wherecertain of the material exits are closed and othersv are open.y I

Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the device on the une 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the device, similar `to Fig. 1 but with theexit control in the opposite limit of its position whereby the openexits of Fig. l are closed and the closed exits are opened; and Fig. 4is a side elevation of the upper portion ofthe shaker, the bottom partbeing broken away. Referring to the drawing, the device comprises acontainer I of glass, porcelain or other suitable material, having ascrew-threaded neck 2 upon which is screwed a sheet metal closurecomprising `the shell portion 3 having a top wall 4 and a marginal skirt5 depending therefrom. Within the shell is a cap portion comprising atop wall 6 and a depending marginal skirt 7 in which are formed the`screw threads 8 for cooperation with the threads 0 on the container.Centrally depending from the top wall of the cap portion of the closureis a tubular receptacle I0 having its lower end closed by the removablescrew plug II and at its upper end being connected with the top wall ofthe cap portion about the margin of the opening I 2 in the center of thecap portion. This connection maybe formed by soldering or in anysuitable way.

Lying with an easy fit between the top walls 6 and 4 of theshell and capportions of the closure is a control plate I3 rotatable about a centralboss I4 upon the plate which enters the central recess I5 in the topWall 4 of the closure shell.

The top Wall 6 of lthe cap portion of the c10` sure is provided with aseries of holes IB cornmunicating with the interior of the container Ioutside the receptacle I0. Directly opposite or registering with theholes I6 are the outer series of holes Il in the top wall of the closureshell. In the plate I3 is an outer series of holes I8 adapted to bemoved into and out of registry with the holes I 6 and I'I as the plateis rotated about its center.

Also the plate I3 has an inner series of holes I9 opening to theinterior of the receptacle I0,

`and being movableinto and out of registration `with an inner series ofholes 20 in the top wall 4 of the closure shell, as the plate I3is'turned about its center. p To afford means for moving the plate I3about its center the plate has a finger piece vZI extending through aslot 22 -in the shell portion of the closure, the movement of the cap ineither direction being limited by the finger piece coming against theends of the slot 22 and the holes I6 and Il' are so arranged withrelation to the holes I8 in the plate that when the nger piece is at oneend of its travel (see Fig. l), the holes I6, II and I8 will aiTordopenings from the interior to the exterior of the cap, but such openingswill be closed by the plate i3 when the finger piece ZI is moved to theother end of theslot (see Fig. 3). Also the holes i9 in the plate are insuch relation to the holes 20 in the closure shell that when the fingerpiece is in the posi-` tion as shown in Fig. 1 the openings 2D will beclosed by the plate I3, and when the nger piece is in the position asshown in' Fig. 3, openings will be aiiorded from the interior of thereceptable Ill to the exterior of the cap through the holesV i9 and 20.

It will now appear that when the plate I3 is in one extreme position aswhen the nger piece 2I is against one end of the slot 22 as shown inFig. l, communication with the interior of the receptacle ill with theexterior of the closure will be closed by the plate I3, whilecommunication through the holes from the interior of the container I tothe exterionof the closure through the holes will be open. When,however, the plate I3 is rotated so that the nger piece ZI is againstthe opposite end of the slot 22, as shown in Fig. 3, the communicationfrom the interior of the container with the exterior of the closure willbe cut oi, while communication from the interior of the receptacle Itwith the exterior of the closure will be open. tion of the plate wherethe ringer piece 2l is intermediate between the ends of the slot 22, theplate I3 will close all the openings through the closure so thatcommunication with the exterior .from both the interior of the containerI and the receptacle iii willbe cut off.

The cap and shell portions of the closure are secured together againstboth relative, longitudinal and rotational movement by curling the loweredge of the skirt 5 of the shell portion tightly about the'lower edge ofthe skirt of the ycan portion, so that the screw-threaded cap portionwill be turned by force applied to the outer shell portion in order tcscrew the closure on to and oil? the containerI and also the cap andshell portions of the closure are held properly longitudinally spaced soas not to bind upon and prevent the ready rotation of the plate I 3 inthe operations as described.

It will be seen that, the device being used as a pepper and salt shaker,the closure and recep- In the positacle can be removed from thecontainer and pepper placed in the receptacle apart from the containerand salt placed in the container apart from the receptacle so that thereis no danger of mixing the salt and pepper in replenishing supplies ofthe receptacle and container such as is the case where a combined pepperand salt shaker is formed by compartments formed in the container, sothat they are permanently located in close relation to each other andthere is consequent danger of spilling the pepper into the saltcompartment and vice versa.

It will further be observed that a simple and eflicient device isprovided whereby, by the simple operation of pushing the finger pieceinto proper position, either salt or pepper may be obtainedindependently of the o-ther, or the device may be closed against thedispensing of either.

While the invention has been illustrated in what is considered its bestapplication it may have other embodiments Without department from itsspirit and is not therefore limited to the structures shown in thedrawing.

What I claim is:

The combination with a container, of a closure therefore comprising anouter shell having a substantially flat top wall and a marginal depending skirt, a cap member within said shell n and having asubstantially flat top wall and a marginal depending skirt, `said capand shell portions being secured together against longitudinal androtational movement by the curling of the marginal edge of the skirt ofone of said members tightly about the skirt of the other of saidmembers, said cap member having a screw thread for operatively engagingwith the said container in removable relation, said cap member having areceptacle depending therefrom and entering within said container with aspace between it and the container, said cap and shell having two setsof registering dispensing open ings, one of said sets being centrallyarranged and adapted to permit dispensing from the said receptacle andthe other of said sets of openings being arranged outside of saidcentral set and adapted to permit dispensing from said container,

having a slot through which said finger piece extends to the exterior ofthe closure.

WILLIAM MCARTHUR.

